22 arrested during DUI crackdown over St. Pat's weekend in Kane County

By By Clifford Ward

|Special to the Tribune|

Mar 28, 2012 | 4:06 PM

Kane County (Tribune illustration)

Police arrested almost two dozen suspected drunken drivers during the most recent “no-refusal” DUI enforcement action in

Kane County

, State’s Attorney Joe McMahon said today.

Eleven police agencies in the county, along with Illinois State Police, arrested 22 people over the March 17-18 St. Patrick’s Day weekend, including several drivers who tested at two and three times the legal limit for blood-alcohol level of 0.08 percent.

During no-refusal weekends, prosecutors are stationed at police stations to draft search warrants which, after being signed by a judge, are served on suspected drunken drivers who had refused to provide a breath or blood sample.

Although it is illegal not to provide a sample, authorities say many suspected drunken drivers decide to decline rather than provide potentially damaging evidence.

Of the 22 arrested, five initially refused to provide a sample, but all later did.

Two submitted after they were informed authorities would serve them with a warrant, and three others provided a sample after they were served with a warrant.

Eight of the drivers showed a blood-alcohol level of at least twice the legal limit, including two whose blood-alcohol levels were 0.277 percent and 0.301 percent.

“Although 22 DUIs is a higher number than we’d like to see, we are pleased that we were able to get BAC samples from everyone charged, and we are pleased that almost two dozen impaired drivers were removed from the roadways,” McMahon said.

In addition to the State Police, participating police agencies included West Dundee,

East Dundee

,

Carpentersville

,

Elgin

,

South Elgin

,

Gilberts

,

St. Charles

,

Geneva

,

Batavia

,

Aurora

and

Montgomery

.

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